Page 130 of The Best of Us

“Who’s your son? Colin Carmichael?”

At Sean’s question, my stomach squeezed, and acid pushed up and burned my chest and throat. Was this what it was like to be a father? To be sick from worry alone?

“Yes, he’s my son. And that’s why this situation is urgent. Because two men tried to abduct him today, and all of this somehow ties to a former Alliance member sitting behind bars.”

I gave Sean, a new father himself, a chance to process what I’d said, then requested to focus back on the facts before my emotions bested me and I forgot how to be an operator.

Sean cleared his throat, then shared, “Well, uh, no one in my organization has picked up on any chatter that The Alliance is looking to restart, so that should help alleviate some of your concerns.”

“But you’re not in the States. Your network isn’t in the Americas.” The pieces finally clicked into place, forming a bigger picture. “Jamie’s here in New York starting things on his father’s behalf, and Cormac still has enough connections, even from behind bars, to arrange a meeting with the Sicilian mafia here. Jamie’s backup plan was to have Colin steal from them if the Sicilians wouldn’t make a deal.” It was the only thing that made sense.

“And whatever it is Jamie wants must be important to Jamie’s father,” Izzy said, gaze shooting to me.

I rested my hands on my hips, irritation pulsing through me, tension settling in my shoulders. “More like important to restarting The Alliance.”

“I can’t imagine what the Sicilian mafia in New York would have of any value that’d help The Alliance revive from the dead. But when we took down their organization, maybe five percent or so of their members escaped justice being served,” Sean shared, and I recognized the guilt in his tone.

“It was a massive criminal network. Five hundred or more people worked for them. Hard to take out everyone,” I reminded him. “But if it’s one of those five percent working with Cormac now, we need to figure out who.”

“Jamie wasn’t looking to sell that device he wanted to get his hands on then, right? He made a promise he’d get it for someone, and that someone is pissed Jamie couldn’t deliver, and that’s why they came after Colin,” Izzy proposed.

“But why?” Hudson asked.

“Because a son will do whatever his father says. He’ll do anything to protect him.”If he loves him, at least.“That device was Brian Cormac’s get-out-of-jail opportunity, and we fucked it up for him at the rave.”All because Daniel wanted some extra cash.The weight of all of this was too damn much with my son at the center. I had to sit.

“Someone with enough power and money capable of swapping Cormac’s prison records could change them with a much lesser sentence, right? Like a get-out-tomorrow kind of thing. And then Cormac would come to New York and run things, starting up The Alliance’s new base of operations in New York free of The League’s presence,” Izzy suggested.

“But why bother to change Cormac’s records to one with a similar sentence time last month?” I wound up answering my own question a moment later. “To hide Cormac’s connection with The Alliance in case anyone came looking into his background. Someone doesn’t want The League knowing The Alliance is trying to reboot, so they’re keeping their hands free of this. Same reason mercenaries were outsourced today to try and take Colin as well.”

“I understand that part, but I’m still struggling to wrap me head around what these New York Sicilians could have that’d be of any value to help relaunch The Alliance, let alone to arrange such a deal with Cormac in the first place. If what you say is true, if they wanted Cormac out of prison, they could change his records now and set him free, no deal needed,” Sean pointed out.

“Which means someone believes that only Jamie can get his hands on this device, and they’re holding Cormac’s freedom as leverage over Jamie’s head until he gets it for them,” Hudson suggested.

“No, it’s not Jamie they need.” I covered my face, my body going cold and numb as it hit me. “It’s Colin. They need my son.”

Chapter41

Juliette

A dark cloudhad been hovering over Constantine’s head for the last hour and a half, and he’d gone out of his way to avoid being alone with me since he came downstairs from his father’s office.

I could physically feel the secrets he promised he wouldn’t keep hanging between us, making it hard to even fake a laugh at Salvatore’s surprising self-deprecating jokes or smile anytime his mother shared a sweet moment with Colin.

If Constantine didn’t talk soon, I’d have no choice but to ask him for answers in front of everyone at the dinner table we were setting.

It was now eight thirty, which apparently, was a regular dinner hour for Italians.

“The boys should be here any minute from JFK. Why don’t we have a drink while we wait for them?” Angela suggested once we were seated at the table in the gorgeous dining room.

I was too focused on the disturbingly quiet man at my side to pay attention to the exquisite and lavish details in the room that had me feeling as though we were in the presence of Sicilian royalty.

“Where’s your sister? Hudson?” Angela asked while picking up an open bottle of Chianti to fill her husband’s glass.

“They’re working on something. They’ll be down once Enzo and Alessandro arrive.” Constantine pulled his phone out of his pocket and kept it on his lap and out of view while responding to a text.

There was no saved name on the screen, only a number. I couldn’t read what he typed out. He was too quick.

Not suspicious at all.He caught me spying, and I didn’t feel bad. I knew whatever he was texting had to do with our son.

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